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Being children in bloom of the '90s and all, we were surprisingly pleased by "Cowboys," an unexpected return to the plugged-in goodness of Recovering The Satellites (aka Counting Crows' last stand before a decade of cheese diving). The other stuff from Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings has been a bit more middling. The band's put up four videos at Amazon (more like cuts and pastes of studio footage): one for "Cowboys" and three tunes you haven't heard yet. "Insignificant" is on the rock side (or the Saturday Nights side), the other two are Sunday Mornings fare. "Le Ballet" breaks out of the band's standard slow jam mold, although it does get repetitious, while "On A Tuesday In Amsterdam Long Ago" is a "Miller's Angels" type Duritz-and-piano ballad which has a nice seventh-chord in the hook. That one's not a departure stylistically, but like "Cowboys," it's most resembling when they were at the height of their powers. If you want resouped versions of Recovering tunes, "Cowboys" and "On A Tuesday" are your picks. If you're feeling nostalgic, watch 'em at Amazon.

The idea of a Pavement reunion's in the air, but Stephen Malkmus & his Jicks are everywhere else, including a Take-Away in San Francisco and a secret show in Portland. The Take-Away includes a trio of Real Emotional Trash tunes, "Hopscotch Willie," "Wicked Wanda," and a pretty, elegiac "We Can't Help You." Those are all fine showings, Malkmus looking every bit the part the slacker legend he is, but for a fun taste of behind-the-scenery, it's fun watching the whole band trying to figure out which R.E.M. songs they all know, so they can sing along in unison. We get "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville," "7 Chinese Brothers," and others with bells and guitar and shakers in a SF art gallery.

Unless you were born with one of those silver spoons, you likely work a day job, sneaking time for your own business when not taking care of someone else's. You're not alone. Every week, Brandon Stosuy finds out how our favorite indie artists make ends meet...

Baltimore's Wye Oak play hushed, sometimes loud, always lush pop. It's refreshingly tough to pin the duo down, but not in some over-eclectic, pseudo-avant way. It's also refreshing to say they legitimately know how to write songs with great hooks. The sound is at times folky, but also brims with noise -- as on swirling Velocity Girl-ish "Warning." Their Merge debut If Children weaves a certain sadness across tracks like "Warning," "Family Glue" "Regret," "I Don't Feel Young," "Obituary," etc. Carrie Brownstein thinks they sound like Whitney Houston (hint: not really).

They used to called themselves Monarch before discovering a number of other groups also held the moniker, so they chose the Maryland state tree instead. As you'll see in the following discussion with vocalist/guitarist Jenn Waster, they love Baltimore, so the shift seems preferable. Jenn's a waitress at area restaurant Golden West Café. When she sings, she sometimes sounds like Kim Deal (see "Family Glue") and has made me think of Throwing Muses.

Andy Stack, who handles drums and keyboard and also sings (rather E. Smith-style), is in the sixth year of completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He's done in May. Congrats, Andy. Wye Oak were able to log (ignore the pun) free studio time at the school studio while working on their aforementioned debut, but for now we're just focusing on Jenn's work. Not that being a student isn't a job, but ... you know. If you want more Andy, check out this video of him playing the drum part for "Warning." And, following the conversation about the ins and outs and chile sauce of Golden West, take a listen to the lovely "I Don't Feel Young." It falls on the quiet side of things. Until it gets loud.

We're hearing the Stills are close to releasing their third LP, which is perfect timing to capitalize on the buzz from their set at Rachael Ray's indie rock SXSW showcase (go ahead and make fun of it, music bloggers, Rachael has five jobs so she doesn't have time to care about your snark). That would make "Snake-Charming The Masses" the first single and the first video from the album that is yet to be named. It's a sort of bleak and dire title, and so a bleak and dire tune (rimclicks, toms, and a pedal point march). Guess the extended shot of a burning house falls into that "bleak" category, too.

Once upon a time we said Demetri Martin is the new Rachel Hunter. To which you said, "Obvs." But after supplanting Rachel as Fountains of Wayne's object of desire, Martin landed himself a starring role in Travis's "Selfish Gene" clip. And now this. The trendspotting funny man's setting a trend of his own: replacing Bonne 'Prince' Billy as the most desirable cameo in indie rock. Yep. Demetri Martin is the new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.

OK if you won't go with that logic, you'll at least agree to this: The camera loves Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. (For proof, see pic above. Also, see every pic they've ever been in.) The video for "You Turn My Head Around," from last year's Back Numbers, features Britta in a little red dress, biking around in the sun, fitting the uncharacteristically smiley tune. (For comparison see D&B's Gainsbourg homaging vid for "Words You Used To Say." Not so sunny.) It's a nice day in the city for love, Dean will bring the flowers, and we end with a nice note across a newspaper to Lee Hazlewood. As they say, this one's got it all.

By and large, looks like you guys dug "Hang Them All," the lead track from Tapes 'N Tapes Dave Fridmann-produced sophomore rekkid Walk It Off. Now you have a little less than 24 hours to stream the entire thing at the band's site and solidify your opinion some (it'll be up until 1pm CST tomorrow, 3/7). You just need to insert an email into a blank field to dig into it, but don't take too long inventing a faux address -- time's a wasting.

Walk It Off is out 4/8 on XL. They'll be playing a lot of show before and after that. Head to MySpace for the specifics.

Thao Nguyen's sophomore album We Brave Bee Stings And All has some real jams -- see, for instance, "Beat (Health, Life, And Fire)." Maybe the most immediately addictive is "Bag Of Hammers," packed as it is with Thao's cathartic "Shake the frame of this house. Distress the wood, make it shout" chorusing and "As sharp as I sting, as sharp as I sing. It just soothes you, doesn't it? Like a lick of ice cream" riddling. The colorful Clyde Petersen and Forrest Baum-directed video for the song involves lo-fi claymation, starring pesky pre-Gumby kids armed with guitars, the strength to lift houses, and a hardcore jonesing for ice cream. They bathe in the stuff.

Supergrass have been super-present lately: First there was that unending parade of hoo ha and then last week's room-spinning video for Diamond Hoo Ha's second single "Bad Blood," and now we've got ourselves shadowy footage of Gaz laying down the vocal tracks for "Rough Knuckles" at Hansa studios in Berlin. Good to see he keeps those sunglasses on for inspiration. Much of the video is basically the same shot -- he looks oddly foreshortened. Every now and then, though, we do get to see more of the studio. As well as outside a traveling vehicle. Lucky us. Something to keep in mind: the Post-it note eyes are creepy. You'll see what we mean.

Damn, Justin had so many worthy tracks to choose from when making his first video. "Lump Sum"? "Flume"? "Skinny Love"? Instead it's "The Wolves (Act I & II)" which, as good as it is on record, is extra goosepimply live, with the crowd-chanted "What might have been lost"s and the noisy, stormy-drummed exeunt. And actually it's the perfect choice for a visual introduction to the world of Bon Iver. The clip's imagery is of a kind with For Emma, Forever Ago's new cover and with Justin's QYDJ picture. The backstory of Justin hunkering down in the woods to make this album, the song's "Don't bother me"s, etc. all connect with the video's fires in the snow, like his time writing and burning up in the cold and dead of winter. "The good winter" indeed; it brought us one of our favorite artists. Now go make videos for the rest of the album.

Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys has been a super busy animal this past year spending time as a solo star, bringing his Furry ones to Letterman, and collaborating with L.A. producer Boom Bip on an electro side project Neon Neon. Gruff and Mr. Bip have named their forthcoming Stainless Style, which is a pun. And as you'll hear on "I Lust U," which features vocals from Welsh singer and frequent SFA tourmate Cate Le Bon, their sound is pretty neon-y, recalling an early '80s danceclub floor or, as this clip demonstrates, a science competition with jellyfish that light up to the beat. Either way, really.